It's easy to forget the the production order of Star Trek differs from the
broadcast order; Charlie X, for example, was the seventh
episode made but shown second. It gives the production team
flexibility. A run of budget saving cheap episodes can be slotted in
around more expensive stories, technically demanding stories can be
pushed back, and simpler stories brought forwards. Of course this is
not unique to Star Trek. The Prisoner fans have spent decades
debating the correct order to watch the programme; production order,
broadcast order, or some as yet undiscovered third order where
everything makes sense. Shifting the
episode order can create anomalies. Balance Of Terror (filmed 8th)
and Shore Leave
(filmed 17th)
are shown back-to-back. Minor character Angela Martine is in both episodes so the week after her fiancé dies in a Romulan
attack, on their wedding day, she is getting friendly with Lieutenant
Rodriguez.
The Menagerie
was made as the 15th
and 16th
episodes, out of 29, and it was shown as episodes 11 and 12. It also
seems to be the first story totally written and filmed since
Star Trek began
broadcasting on NBC; so it's also the first story to be influenced by
public reaction. This makes it a good midpoint for the series. Star
Trek before The
Menagerie is an unknown
quantity, nobody quite knows what stories this series will do best,
or how the characters work. Star Trek after The Menagerie
is the series with “the guy with the ears”. It's the point where
Spock completes the transition from character to hero. Spock has
always been the one who
uses logic to find, and voice, the hard but correct options. In Where No Man Has Gone Before,
he's the first person to recommend killing Gary Mitchell. In Balance
Of Terror
he surprises everyone in the briefing room by agreeing with Stiles
and recommending the Romulan ship be destroyed. However The
Menagerie
is the first time he's given a proper heroic storyline when he kidnaps
Captain Pike. At first the audience is left to guess at Spock's
motives, even his friends doubt him, but Spock is correct. Talos IV
is the best place for Pike, and the means of getting him there are
justified by the ends. It's essentially the same storyline given to
Kirk in The Conscience Of The King; presented with a problem, and
unwilling to involve his friends, Kirk is challenged, but proved
correct in the end.
All
this is to try and explain why exactly The Galileo Seven
feels so out of step with the series at this point. In The
Galileo Seven Spock is wrong. He
makes poor decisions, is unable to take the reactions of his human
colleagues into account, misunderstands the responses of the
inhabitants of Taurus II, and gives an order which directly kills one
of the men under his command; if not
ordered to remain on guard away from the shuttle Gaetano would not have died. Finally Spock is
given a scene where he openly questions his own decision making.
SPOCK:
Strange. Step by step, I have made the correct and logical decisions.
And yet two men have died.
MCCOY:
And you've brought our furry friends down on us.
SPOCK:
I do seem to have miscalculated regarding them, and inculcated
resentment on your parts. The sum of the parts cannot be greater than
the whole.
MCCOY
A little less analysis and more action. That's what we need, Mister
Spock.
Spock
only saves the day when he stops relying completely on logic and, in
the words of Captain Kirk, reasons it is time for an emotional
outburst. Spock's decision making process is not just questioned, as
Kirk's is in The
Conscience Of The King,
it's actually tested and found wanting. If this was a war film Spock
would be the cocky Lieutenant who realises he has a lot to learn and
is not yet ready for command.
The
Galileo Seven was
made 13th,
a couple of episodes before The
Menagerie, and
held back until episode 16. One of the reasons it feels out of place
is because Balance
Of Terror
another significant Spock focused episode aired in the meantime.
Balance Of
Terror, also
made pre-Menagerie,
fits much better because Spock is given the heroic 'man who is
wronged 'storyline; character A dislikes character B because someone
like B was responsible for a terrible event in A's past, when A's
life is saved by B, A realises B is okay and learns it is wrong to
judge people as a group. Moving Balance
Of Terror means
the run of episodes goes like this; The
Menagerie, Spock
as hero; The
Conscience Of The King,
Spock light story; Balance
Of Terror,
Spock as hero (he wins over the bigoted Lieutenant Stiles and saves
the day by firing the vital phaser shot); Shore
Leave,
Spock light story; The
Galileo Seven, Spock
makes bad decisions and gets one man killed. You can see why the
story jars.
The
other element of The Galileo Seven
which feels off is the attitude of the crashed shuttle crew to Spock.
Granted they're in a stressful situation. And, granted even before
discovering the planet is inhabited by 12 foot "huge,
furry creatures" which want them all dead, the seven crew know
three people may have to be left behind to allow the shuttle to
achieve orbit. If they're going to be abandoned along with
non-essential equipment to make the shuttle light enough to take off
they want some reassurance their life is more valued than the
Galileo's candy floss machine, and Spock is never going to be the
commander to give that assurance, but they start whining and sniping
very quickly. McCoy in particular seems to be put out simply because
Spock treads on one of his jokes:
MCCOY:
Partial pressure of oxygen, seventy millimetres of mercury. Nitrogen
one forty. Breathable, if you're not running in competition.
SPOCK: Just the facts, Doctor.
MCCOY: Traces of argon, neon, krypton, all in acceptable quantities. However, I wouldn't recommend this place as a summer resort.
SPOCK: Just the facts, Doctor.
MCCOY: Traces of argon, neon, krypton, all in acceptable quantities. However, I wouldn't recommend this place as a summer resort.
There's
something very passive aggressive about that summer resort comment.
McCoy gets in a dig because Spock only wants facts. Now McCoy might simply
be trying to raise people's spirits with a little humour if it wasn't
for the next scene being one where McCoy follows Spock outside and
needles him about his approach to command being based on logic. Then
the very next scene, after Spock says his decision on who stays
behind will be based on logic, not drawing lots as Lieutenant Boma
suggests, contains this exchange:
SPOCK:
... Now gentlemen, I suggest we move outside to make a further
examination of the hull in the event we've overlooked any minor
damage.
BOMA: If any minor damage was overlooked, it was when they put his head together.
BOMA: If any minor damage was overlooked, it was when they put his head together.
MCCOY:
Not his head, Mister Boma, his heart. His heart.
In
the space of three scenes McCoy moves from taking digs at Spock to
openly criticising him in front of junior crew-members. And,
unsurprisingly, the crew become increasingly hostile and aggressive,
with Lieutenant Boma in particular being almost irrationally
determined to make shows of compassion in front of Spock as he
insists on burials for both dead crewmen. It all comes to a head
after one of the creatures is driven off after attacking the shuttle.
SPOCK:
The moment they discover they're not seriously hurt, they'll be back.
Meanwhile, please check the aft compartment. See if there's anything
you can unload to lighten the ship.
BOMA:
Mister Gaetano's body's back there.
SPOCK:
It will of course have to be left behind.
BOMA:
Not without a burial.
SPOCK:
I wouldn't recommend it. The creatures won't be far away.
BOMA:
Not without a burial, Mister Spock.
SPOCK:
It would expose members of this crew to unnecessary peril.
BOMA:
I'll take that chance. You see, Mister Spock, I would insist upon a
decent burial even if your body was back there.
MCCOY:
Mister Boma.
BOMA:
I'm sick and tired of this machine!
SCOTT:
That's enough!
It's
rather hypocritical of McCoy to utter that shocked, “Mister Boma”
as if he hasn't spent all their time on the planet second guessing
Spock's decisions, and criticising him. If he can't set a good
example he shouldn't be surprised when other people think
insubordination is okay. It's worth noting it's Scotty who tells Boma
“that's enough”. Mr. Scott is one of the stars of this episode.
He gets on with his work with quiet competence. He doesn't join in
the communal whinging. And he comes up with the solution to their
fuel problem. In short, he plays the sensible second in command role
normally taken by Spock. Back on the Enterprise, Uhura is also given
a good character moment when she suggests a way to narrow the search
because Taurus Two is the only planet in Murasaki 312 capable of
supporting life. It would have been easy to give this line to Kirk,
or make him look smarter by seeing the solution before everyone else.
It's also good writing because it almost unnoticeably solves the
problem of how the Enterprise can get to the right planet in an area
described as comprising at least four complete solar systems.
Robert
Gist, the director, gives us claustrophobic planet scenes as well as
the human tension on the shuttlecraft. He mostly keeps the camera
low, even when people are climbing on rocks, and this, plus lots of
dry ice, and lots of twisting rock canyons makes Taurus Two feel like an easy place to get lost. One weaknesses of Star
Trek's sound
stage planets is their attempt to create the illusion of space in a
confined area. The rocks of Taurus Two don't look any more realistic
than usual -one of the alien spears grazes a rock and causes a shower
of polystyrene- but not seeing a horizon really helps, and the
constant weird scraping sound, wood rubbing on leather according to
Spock as the natives prepare their weapons, gives a more
threatening feel than the usual ambient planet noise. The director,
or editor, also makes the wise decision not to give us a close-up
look at the inhabitants of Taurus Two. Although impressively bulky,
they look a bit silly and the trick of having them holding regular
sized spears and shields, but replacing them with giant versions in
shots with the shuttle crew never really convinces; it also leads to
a whopping great continuity error when a regular sized shield is
dropped near Spock, Boma and Gaetano which changes to a giant version
in the next shot.
The
Galileo Seven is
a unique episode. The unusual personal conflict and claustrophobia
makes it feels doom laden. Once the Galileo has taken off the shuttle
scenes have a sombre feel; even though the audience knows the
Enterprise is still in the area the crew don't. Nimoy plays Spock
musing on his first command very well, you can see the disappointment
behind the emotionless mask. When he is questioned on jettisoning the
fuel he sits completely still, his hands locked and only his thumbs
twist and twitch at the bottom of the frame to betray his interior
turmoil. This is a self-doubting Spock we have never seen before, and
one we wouldn't have seen at all if this episode had been made any
later.
Crew deaths: Three.
Lieutenants Latimer and Gaetano, on the shuttle. And Ensign O'Neill an Enterprise
search party member.
Running
total: 23.
Misc:
The tag scene at the
end of the episode is bizarre. It's the standard crew laughs at
something Spock says scene but the reaction is bizarrely over the
top. Uhura, Yeoman Mears, and a blond haired crew-woman are so
tickled by Spock's line they rock backwards and forwards against the
communication console. Kirk laughs so hard he barely makes it
back to his chair without falling over. McCoy stands next to the
Captains chair and almost doubles over at one point. Sulu keeps
looking back from the helm and guffawing so much you worry he's going
to steer the Enterprise into a star. And Scotty has to walk across
the set and lean against a wall to support himself in his hilarity,
before wiping the tears from his eyes. Maybe this was the last shot of a long day, or the twenty third attempt at the same scene. The whole thing is so OTT it's
difficult not to wonder if the cast is being sarcastic.
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